Gwydion Brooke

Gwydion Brooke, who has died aged 93, was one of the most influential instrumentalists of the 20th century. His musicianship and unusually brilliant technique raised the bassoon from being a dry and rather quirky member of the woodwind family to being capable of great expressiveness and beauty.

Born in Newmarket, he was the son of the composer Joseph Holbrooke, who dominated the family uncompromisingly. This meant that Gwyd - as he was always known - was "put to the piano" early, and then summarily presented with a bassoon when he was 11. It was a "terrible French instrument", but the best that could be afforded. He managed it well enough to gain a scholarship, in 1928, to the Royal Academy of Music (Ram).

After only a year, his father found him a job in Basil Cameron's orchestra in Hastings, playing "mostly light music, but symphonies on Thursdays". Gwyd was allowed to suspend his Ram scholarship for a year, and during that time earned enough to buy the German Adler bassoon that saw him through the rest of his long career. In 1932, he joined Sir Thomas Beecham's London Philharmonic Orchestra as second bassoon, and then, in 1935, went off to Edinburgh as first bassoon in the BBC Scottish Radio Orchestra.

During his time at the Ram, Gwyd was fascinated by the playing of the virtuoso saxophonist Rudy Wiedoeft, and tried out many of his techniques, such as rapid double-tonguing and a sensuous vibrato. He formed a group called Rhythm Classics (or Rhythm on Reeds) with other members of the Scottish orchestra, using some of these techniques. They became very popular and broadcast regularly.

Gwyd remained in Scotland until war broke out in 1939, when he joined a Scottish artillery regiment, serving in Italy and north Africa. After the war, he went back to find his bassoon in its case under the piano, covered with mildew. Not having touched it for nearly six years, he was in some doubt as to what to do next, but a chance meeting with the clarinetist Reginald Kell decided his future.

The then Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra was short of a bassoon player, and Kell suggested that Gwyd apply for the post. Many of the top London players had gravitated to Liverpool during the war, but were now beginning to move back to the capital, and the city's orchestra was suffering.

During Gwyd's first year in Liverpool, Beecham came to conduct, and soon there was an invitation for Gwyd to join Beecham's newly formed Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO), which he did in 1947. It was at this point that he changed his surname to Brooke, in order to have a separate musical identity from his irascible father.

Gwyd's celebrated recording of Weber's Bassoon Concerto was made with Sir Malcolm Sargent and the Liverpool orchestra in March 1947: his artistic, but unprecedented, use of vibrato aroused much professional antagonism. He liked to give the impression that he obtained his results effortlessly, claiming that his 1958 recording of the Mozart concerto with Beecham and the RPO was achieved with a straightforward playthrough, whereas, in fact, he applied his indomitable technique and stamina to repeating long sections several times for better effects.

Many consider the result of this gruelling session to be the work's finest recording, a view shared by an international gathering of bassoonists some years ago: after listening to a dozen anonymous recordings of various works and soloists, they voted for Gwyd in the Mozart concerto as the best.

During his 14 years at the RPO, Gwyd and his colleagues Jack Brymer (clarinet) and Terence MacDonagh (oboe) were collectively known as "the royal family". They could do no wrong in the eyes (and ears) of Beecham, and were able to develop their own unforgettable style of playing.

After Beecham's death in 1961, Gwyd moved to the Philharmonia Orchestra, where he remained for 18 years. He also became a professor at the Ram. In 1950, Elizabeth Maconchy wrote a concertino for him, which he performed at the Proms.

He often played with the Delmé Ensemble, in such works as the Schubert Octet and the Beethoven Septet, with Brymer and the horn player Alan Civil. The violinist John Underwood recalls that Gwyd could float a note in from nowhere, as delicately as a string player, and liked to sit in the position normally occupied by the second violin, so as to blend better with the strings.

In 1972, he brought together an orchestra of eminent colleagues to record two favourite works, the Bassoon Concerto by Johann Christian Bach and the Violin Concerto No 3 in G by Mozart. As Gwyd pottered around putting out chairs and music, the players assumed that Emmanuel Hurwitz was going to play the violin concerto, and were astounded when Gwyd took up the solo position and played it himself. Not a phrase was altered in his bassoon version: for this writer, the recording is the radiant summit of Gwyd's musical achievement.

By this time, his Adler instrument had been so radically altered, with keys added and finger holes filled in and re-bored in new positions, that the intonation and technical facility were perfect for Gwyd - but probably quite unplayable by anyone else. It was ironic, therefore, that, in 1979, burglars broke into his flat in Maida Vale and, among other things, stole this unique instrument, which has never been seen since. Gwyd chose this moment to retire, rather than face starting all over again with a new instrument.

In his retirement, he took up the cause of his father's long-forgotten music. He repossessed all the copyrights and set about publishing the best works under the imprint Blenheim Press.

In 1961, Gwyd married Jean Graham, an artist and designer. "Bit late," he said, in his characteristically brief manner. She and their two sons survive him.

· Frederick James Gwydion Holbrooke (Gwydion Brooke), bassoonist, born February 16 1912; died March 27 2005